by Tawny Weber
He changed the kiss, so just his lips were sweeping over hers. His fingers loosened. His body shifted, just a little, as if inviting air in to cool things off between them.
Whew.
Talk about acing the test.
“Well,” she breathed slowly. “That was fun.”
Sage had to step away from that delicious body in order to get her body’s circuits to connect to her brain again. She felt as if everything had gone haywire, all her systems sparking and zinging with passion unlike anything she’d ever experienced.
Something to think about, she promised herself. Later. Much later. After she’d had a few hours away from Aiden and a lot of meditation to neutralize her reaction.
“You play with live grenades for fun, too?” he asked quietly, his expression neutral, with a hint of something intense, something ferocious beneath the surface.
She wanted to touch again. To see what that passion felt like. What he’d do with it. How he’d use it on her body. She shivered at the prospect, then carefully took one more step away from temptation.
Not out of fear, she promised herself.
Just good judgment.
Something she liked to try out every once in a while for a change of pace.
“That was a thanks for the donut.” Sage laughed again, and delicious bag-o-magic swinging in her hand, made her way to the kitchen. Leaving the grumpy pessimist to find her father on his own.
* * *
TWO HOURS LATER, she wasn’t quite as amused.
Seated by the swimming pool, an umbrella shading them from the afternoon sun, two of her best friends were plotting to drive her crazy.
“Look, it’s really not a big deal,” she told them, trying to sound cheerful and calm instead of panicked and worried. “Let’s talk about something else. Like Nina’s eloping.”
“Not a big deal? Are you kidding, this is huge,” Cailley protested, ignoring the subject change and spreading her hands apart in the classic indicator usually saved for detailing guy parts. “A term I hear applies to more than just the situation. I hear rumors about your fiancé that are pretty impressive, if you know what I mean.”
Even Sage had to giggle at that.
Aiden was going to so gloat when he heard.
Not that Cailley thought he was huge.
But that her friends were trying to make a big deal of the party. Of the entire engagement, actually.
Still, as fun as it was going to be to tell him that the general opinion was that he was hung, and as hard as it’d be to admit that he was right about this party getting out of hand, those things weren’t what was bothering Sage.
For the first time, she wished her friends weren’t around. Wished they didn’t care about the excitement and fun that was her life. Or, in this case, her make-believe life.
“I want more details,” Nina insisted. “Where is your ring? What does it look like?”
“The ring?” Uh oh. She hadn’t even thought about a ring. “We’re still looking for just the right one.”
“That’s important,” Nina allowed. Then she leaned forward. “So how did he propose? When did the two of you start spending time together? Last I heard, you were miserable in Arizona and he was off, you know, somewhere doing whatever.”
She waved her hand over her head to indicate that vague wherever that Aiden did his navy thing at.
“It’s really not that exciting,” Sage murmured, focusing all of her attention on sucking iced tea through her straw instead of meeting her friends’ eyes. Who knew Aiden’s no-telling rule would be so painful.
Her gaze flicked toward the house. She couldn’t see her father from here, but his study window was open, the curtains fluttering in the breeze. He liked working to fresh air. The immediate weight of miserable worry wrapped over her, making any discomfort over the fake engagement instantly bearable.
“C’mon, Sage,” Nina said as she nibbled on a handful of M&M’s from the table between them. “We’ve been sharing the details of our love lives since we were too young to have them.”
“Nina’s right. And you always have the best details,” Cailley said with a laugh. “Besides, this is Aiden. Which means it’s like, doubly juicy details.”
Sage laughed. She leaned forward, ready to share just how juicy Aiden kissed. Now there was a detail worth reliving.
Then she stopped.
As soon as she shared the kiss story, they’d want more. And there was no way they’d believe that Sage and Aiden hadn’t done more. As Cailley said, the guy was known for being hung, and Sage was known for being curious.
She shot a narrow-eyed look toward the house again. It wasn’t as if Aiden would hear if she told them. And they were her best friends. They’d keep the secret.
Sage tossed back a handful of M&M’s. They were the only unhealthy treat she allowed herself—besides Tilly’s donuts—and she was trying to find comfort in their crunchy-coated chocolaty goodness.
But...Sage didn’t break promises, and she’d agreed to keep it just between her and Aiden. Besides, this was her father’s health and happiness at stake.
“There’s something you’re not telling us,” Nina accused, her eyes narrowed. She leaned forward, pulling the candy dish away from Sage. “You just ate those M&M’s without sorting the colors. What’s going on?”
Wide-eyed, Sage looked at her friend, then at the candy in her fist. Hell. Nina was right. Sage never mixed colors when she ate her M&M’s.
“Nothing’s going on,” she lied. She tried a flutter of her lashes and a deep sigh. “I was just thinking about Aiden and got distracted.”
“Right,” Cailley said slowly, her expression just as suspicious as Nina’s. “You know, if you don’t tell us what’s going on, we won’t tell you about the engagement party plans.”
The look she and Nina shared was two shades past naughty, hinting at wicked.
“My father is putting the party on,” Sage said slowly. What could be naughty about that? Her father’s idea of wild was 10:00 p.m., a second glass of wine while listening to his Elvis vinyls. “I’m sure it’s going to be a fun—if a little mellow—evening.”
“You’ve missed the last couple of engagement parties, haven’t you?” Nina asked with a laugh that didn’t bode well for any plans Aiden had to keep things chill between them.
Eyes wide, Cailley opened her mouth as if to say something, but took a deep breath and offered a big smile instead.
“What’s going on?” she asked, leaning forward in both worry and anticipation. Because, well, naughty was usually fun. “What happened at the last couple of engagement parties?”
“Nothing you need to worry about. We’ve got to go, though,” Nina said, wrapping her hand around Cailley’s forearm and pulling the other woman to her feet. “We’ll talk to you later, okay? Let your dad know we’ll be happy to help out.”
If Sage hadn’t been worried already, the look on Nina’s face would have done the trick.
“What are you helping with, exactly?” she asked narrowly.
“Just helping. You know, with food and entertainment and stuff,” Cailley added, her grin so wide she looked like a Halloween decoration. “I’ll call him tomorrow. Could you let him know?”
“I don’t think he needs a lot of help,” Sage said quickly, getting to her feet, too. “He’ll cater a dinner, throw on a few CDs and make a toast. Simple and easy.”
“I’ll call him,” Cailley said again.
Before Sage could protest, they were gone.
She debated following them and nagging for information.
But she wasn’t the following, nor the nagging type.
She might have to learn to be the apologizing type if whatever they had planned upset Aiden. But she’d deal with that when the time came.
Besides, she grinned, she was kinda looking forward to finding out what’d put that wicked gleam in their eyes.
It was the kind of gleam that boded naughty for their intended target. “Sage?”
Ahh, her fellow target.<
br />
Still smiling, Sage turned toward the house and Aiden’s call.
It wasn’t like she was really horny for Aiden.
She was just enjoying the game.
And she’d keep telling herself that until she’d decided how she felt about it, either way.
5
“WHY ARE YOU doing this again?” Aiden asked, watching Sage putter around his kitchen, her hair tied back and an oddly peaceful look on her face.
“I told you. We need to spend some time together. To get to know each other again well enough that people will buy our story.” Pulling the oven door open, she bent low, giving Aiden a tasty view of her butt as the filmy fabric of her skirt pulled tight.
His mouth dirt-dry, he took a swig of beer, swished it, then took another drink for good measure.
“Besides,” she said, straightening and turning to face him. Worry lines creased her brow and her pale eyes held a hint of confusion. “We need to get all the engagement details right.”
Since she’d been awfully mellow about pulling this off when she’d kissed him stupid that morning, Aiden had to surmise that something had gone down between then and now.
He considered his bottled brew with a sigh.
“Why don’t you fill me in?” he suggested, settling into the ladder-back chair and pulling the bowl of chips and guacamole Sage had set out closer. He had the feeling he was going to need sustenance.
“Shouldn’t we decide the engagement details together? Agree on why I don’t have a ring. Or you know, each of us share our favorite scenario, then we’ll see if they can somehow mesh together? That way we’re more likely to remember it.”
A chip loaded with creamy avocado and jalapeno, Aiden squinted at her.
“You think I have an engagement scenario? One that has nothing to do with enemy combat?”
She blinked a couple of times, then rolled her eyes as she put the terms enemy engagement together in her head.
“Fine, so you don’t lie awake at night in your cot dreaming of your perfect woman and the most romantic way to invite her to spend your lives together.”
Aiden’s gaze softened as he crunched his chip. He was usually so exasperated with Sage that he forgot how sweet she was. Since any nights he lay awake in his cot thinking about a woman usually involved her, baby oil and lace scarves, he ate another chip instead of responding.
“Still, we need to get the story straight. It has to be realistic. Something that people will believe.”
Ahh, there it was.
“What happened today?” he asked, wondering if he could bypass the chips and eat the guacamole with a spoon. Or his fingers.
“Today? What are you talking about?” Trying for innocent, she turned to the salad fixings she’d strewn over his counter. She set a cucumber on the cutting board and whacked it to pieces with a knife in a way that made him wince.
“Someone said something to worry you. And don’t try to deny it,” he said, pointing at her with the tip of his tortilla chip. “You’ve got that frantic, gotta-fix-it tone in your voice.”
She wrinkled her nose, but didn’t deny his words.
After she’d decimated the poor cucumber, she started on a carrot. Aiden shifted in his chair, wondering if there was a theme.
“Okay, so Nina and Cailley stopped by,” she said, tossing the pieces into a huge bowl he didn’t recognize. How much of her own stuff had she brought over? And how did she have stuff to even bring? Had she ever lived in one place long enough to collect enough to fill more than a handful of moving boxes?
“They were asking a bunch of questions. You know, when we got together, how you proposed. That kind of thing.” She grimaced, setting the knife on the counter and giving him a pleading look. “I’m really bad at lying. Can’t we tell them the truth? They’d keep it quiet.”
Aiden was shaking his head before she even finished the plea. He’d expected the request. What he hadn’t expected was his need to give her anything that would make her quit looking so worried. Nope, he told his gut. Stay strong, they had a plan and they were sticking with it.
“We established the rules. No mission can succeed if you abandon the plans at the first sign of conflict.”
“These are my best friends. Not cannibal pygmies.”
Aiden grinned.
“I don’t know. I might classify Nina as a man-eater, and that redhead, AnaMaria? She’s pretty short.”
Her lips twitched, but she shook her head and plastered one of those hard-to-resist pleading looks on her face. He pretended he was immune and shook his head again.
“Look, you need to decide now, tonight, what you want.” When her eyes narrowed and a naughty smile teased her mouth, he talked faster, in case she put whatever wicked thing she was thinking into words. Because knowing her, those he couldn’t resist as easily.
“You need to decide what your priority is. Making your father feel better or making yourself feel better,” he said, tossing the words out without thought, only aiming to make his point.
Her face seemed to crumple. Her lips trembled and her eyes widened, then filled before she blinked fast.
Shit.
“All I meant was that we need to stick with the plan,” he said quickly, getting to his feet. He didn’t move forward, even though his initial instinct was to offer a comforting hug.
But hugs—at least with Sage—had crossed over from innocent comfort to a danger zone. And while Aiden wasn’t one to run from danger—the exact opposite in fact—he was known for strategically assessing the situation, weighing the odds and stepping in with the best weapons at his disposal.
Right now, his instincts said the situation between he and Sage was as potentially explosive as C4. So until he knew how to defuse it, and put them back on that friendly footing they’d always shared, he was keeping his hands to himself.
“You’re not going to cry, are you?” he asked, knowing the suggestion would make Sage do the exact opposite.
As he’d figured, she lifted her chin and gave him a frown.
“Cry? Of course not. I was just asking if we really had to keep the truth a secret from people we trust.” She shrugged, the movement sending the slinky strap of her tank top sliding over the smooth golden skin of her shoulder. Aiden’s body tightened, assuring him that half a kitchen’s distance between them was smart. “You trust your team, right? That’s how I feel about my friends.”
He almost pointed out that his team trusted each other because their lives depended on it. But the weight of the fact that sometimes, lives were lost anyway kept him from using the argument. Not because it wasn’t valid. But because he knew Sage. She’d ask questions, poke and prod until she dug through the walls to the pain he’d carefully tucked away so he could deal with it. After that call from Castillo this morning, the walls were already shaky.
So he went with argument B. Logic.
“The odds of any secret being exposed are lengthened exponentially by the number of people who know the truth,” he pointed out. “The Professor believes our engagement right now, because he wants to. But a few days, a week tops, and he’s going to start questioning the convenience and timing.”
Sage opened her mouth as if to argue, then closed it again. Brows together, she tapped the knife against the cutting board a couple of times, then gave a sideways tilt of her head to show she agreed.
“He’s not going to bring his questions to you or me, Sage. He’s going to observe. He’s going to assess. He’ll start chatting with your friends when they stop by. He won’t ask them straight out, either. But he’ll set verbal traps. He’ll put out feelers. Your friends won’t mean to, but they aren’t skilled in lying. And the Professor, after decades of teaching college students, is a pro at spotting untruths. He’s going to be looking, not for confirmation, but for proof that this engagement isn’t real.”
“That’s what you’d do,” she said, her words so defensive that he knew even though she wanted him to be wrong, she realized he was right. The stubborn ju
t of her chin echoed that, while the frustration in her eyes told him she was only arguing for form’s sake.
“That’s what your father will do.”
After a long stare, Sage puffed out a breath, and dropped the knife onto the block
“Okay, fine,” she huffed. “We won’t tell anyone. Not even a hint.”
“There you go,” Aiden said with a satisfied nod, dropping back into his chair.
“But that means we have to get prepared.”
He almost stood right back up. “What? Prepared how? For what?”
“You’re right.” Using her fingers, she tossed together the bowl full of chopped vegetables. “He is going to be watching. Carefully. So we have to make sure we look like a newly engaged couple.”
“Are you back to that how I proposed garbage?” Aiden asked, tension wrapping around him so tight he could choke on it.
How the hell did a guy propose? She wasn’t going to want him to pretend to have done any of that silly romantic crap, was she? On one knee, spouting soppy poetry about her eyes and moonbeams?
He gave her a narrow look and clenched his teeth. Yeah, she probably was. That was the kind of thing the dorks she usually dated would do. The kind of thing she was used to.
“Your father isn’t going to be asking that kind of question,” Aiden insisted, trying to shrug off the bitter taste of jealousy. Why should he care about a bunch of dorks? It wasn’t as if this was a real engagement. If Sage wanted to waste herself on idiot losers, that was her problem.
“Your dad’s going to want logistics,” he told her. “When we saw each other last, where I was stationed and how often you came to visit. He’s not going to care about the fluffy trappings.”
“But my friends are. And he knows I’d share all of that with them.” Using a thick dish towel, she pulled the casserole from the oven, set it on the stove top to cool then faced him again. The spicy scent of tomatoes, sausage and cheese filled the air, making Aiden’s stomach growl. “He’s a sociologist. He knows women share those emotional details and judge each other on them. He’s also my father. He knows these are the kind of things that would matter to me, the kind I’d talk to my friends about while I was worrying over if this was the right or wrong decision.”
